Trump live: ‘They’re trying to drive us apart:’ President and Musk have love-in during Hannity interview

The president signed an executive order at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday aimed at expanding access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) but it was not clear what concrete steps may be taken to make that a reality.

“The Order directs policy recommendations to protect IVF access and aggressively reduce out-of-pocket and health plan costs for such treatments,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt noted on X.

White House staff secretary Will Scharf, who appeared alongside Trump yesterday afternoon, outlined the executive orders signed there by the president.

The IVF order relates to “the affordability and availability of in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments,” said Scharf.

These are “treatments that have become unaffordable for many Americans,” he added.

“The executive order is a directive to the Domestic Policy Council to examine ways to make IVF and other fertility treatments more affordable for more Americans.”

Trump followed Scharf, saying: “I’ve been saying that we’re going to do what we have to do, and I think the women and families – husbands – are very appreciative of it.”

But the order states that it “shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.”

Gustaf Kilander has more.

The president’s latest social media posts find him promoting clips of the Hannity interview and once more stewing over old grievances, rather than, say, addressing the price of eggs or stopping any major wars.

Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, arrived in Kyiv this morning, according to local media reports, for a three-day visit as part of the administration’s efforts to end Russia’s war – and will no doubt find himself with some explaining to do in light of his boss’s comments in Florida yesterday.

Upon arriving, Kellog said his mission was mainly to “listen” to Ukraine’s concerns and report back to the White House.

“We understand the need for security guarantees. We understand… the importance of the sovereignty of this nation,” the U.S. diplomat said.

“A part of my mission is to sit and listen and see what your concerns are.”

The Kyiv Independent reports that President Volodymyr Zelensky offered Kellogg the chance to inspect the war’s front lines, which he appears not to have taken up.

Kellogg and Zelensky met at last week’s Munich Security Conference and discussed the war and the U.S.-proposed memorandum on Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.

Elon Musk spun his government siege as the will of the people but has no idea how government actually works, says Alex Woodward.

Later, an uncharacteristically subdued Trump was at times silent as he seemed to reluctantly share the limelight with wealthy Republican donor turned unpaid White House aide Elon Musk in an interview with Fox News personality Sean Hannity on Tuesday evening.

The SpaceX founder used the primetime slot to try to justify the sweeping cuts his so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” has attempted to make over Trump’s first month in office as a needed corrective to a recalcitrant civil service that is resisting the president’s demands.

Musk, who appeared alongside the 47th president during a joint interview taped last week for Hannity’s eponymous program, described his role in the Trump administration as “tech support” and as a sort of enforcer for Trump’s will against non-compliant government workers.

Trump in turn effusively described Musk as “a leader” who “gets it done” during the softball sit-down with Hannity, leading the partisan personality to describe the unlikely pair as remarkably fraternal.

There was plenty more about their relationship:

Here’s a full report from Andrew Feinberg.

Donald Trump sparked fresh concern over the Ukraine war during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida yesterday by declaring the country “should never have started” the conflict, even though it was the one invaded by Russian troops acting on Vladimir Putin’s orders.

The president further dismissed Ukrainian anger over its being denied a seat at the table at talks between U.S. and Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia.

“I hear they’re upset about not having a seat. Well, they’ve had a seat for three years,” Trump said, also deriding his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky’s poll ratings and suggesting he “may” meet Putin before the end of February.

Here’s James Liddell with more on his disturbing comments.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would unilaterally impose 25 percent import taxes on American purchases of automobiles, pharmaceuticals and microchips as early as April 1 despite fears that doing so would supercharge inflation rates he promised to tame during his campaign for the presidency last year.

Speaking during an impromptu press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump was asked about the rates of tariffs he plans to impose in pursuit of what he has called “reciprocity” in trade and in an effort to force manufacturers to bring their facilities back to the U.S.

Andrew Feinberg has the story.